News24 reports that the yacht Prodigy, skippered by Durban man Chris Frost, received line honours for being the first yacht to finish the 2011 Cape to Rio yacht race early on Monday.
Line honours means the boat was the first to reach the finish line. However, that does not make it the overall winner.
According to the regulations, different boats have different ratings and a boat with a lower rating might be declared an overall winner without receiving line honours.
Prodigy neared Rio at about 1pm (South African time) on Sunday. According to the boat’s Facebook site, they had wind on Saturday, but lost it on Sunday.
TimesLive reported, “After being at sea for over two weeks and with the line only 500m away, the 54-footer with a canting keel was going backwards instead of forwards.”
Frost stated a few moments before they managed to cross the line via the team’s Facebook fan page, “The most frustrating end to a yacht race… ever… period! With 0.5nm to go and zero knots of wind, the tide turned against us and we were going backwards. We are now underway again and inching towards the finish. The conditions we have are thick fog, zero visibility and very very little wind!”
Prodigy, after much agonising on the part of crew and supporters, finally crossed the finish line to take line honours in the 2011 Cape to Rio yacht race.
TimesLive report click here
“It was a helluva relief to cross the finish after waiting seven hours,” said an exhausted Frost (47) after all the last minute drama.
The 54ft yacht completed the race in just under 16 days.
Christ Frost is a senior member and past commodore of the Royal Natal Yacht Club in Durban.
Current Commodore of the club, Richard Crockett commented proudly, “Prodigy crossing the line in record speeds is a first for the Royal Natal Yacht Club. We have previously won a variety of classes in this race but to have Frost be the first boat across the line is a magnificent moment for the club.”